Grow Your Own Drugs

With dark clouds looming over the future of the natural supplements industry, and the many unknowns that come with purchasing supplements from profit-driven corporations, it’s good to remember that there is another option. Grow your own.

James Wong – Photo by Reader's Digest

All Things Considered, the NPR afternoon news show, did an interview with James Wong, a UK scientist who wants to promote the cultivation of personal medicinal gardens, full of herbs and plants that can be used to your own benefit. And it’s cheaper and safer than pharmaceuticals. From the article:

“I think so many people have this stereotyped idea of what herbal medicine is,” Wong tells NPR’s Melissa Block.

He adds, “I think they’ve very much got a big black line in their minds that separates serious, conventional, tested, scientific medicine on one side and slightly airy, fairy, away-with-the-hippies — you know — natural-but-probably-doesn’t-work, plant-based medicine on the other.”

But that “black line,” Wong says, is a cultural idea — not a scientific one.

“To me as a scientist, whether a chemical is found within a pill or the cells of plant is really irrelevant — that’s just packaging,” he said.

[Source: NPR]

His book, Grow Your Own Drugs is on bookshelves now. Do you use herbs for prevention or treatment of body ailments? Let us know in the comments.

Bonus video of James Wong explaining some herbal remedies made from roots:

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